CAMPAIGN NOTEBOOK

By Celia Cohen
Grapevine Political Writer

The Delaware Republicans were determined to come out
of their convention last weekend in Dewey Beach with a
statewide ticket put together, even if they were at the
mercy of vacation plans and medical bulletins.

Bill Lee was drafted for governor while he was
thousands of miles away in Disney World. John Brady was
endorsed for insurance commissioner while he was up the
road in the Beebe Medical Center in Lewes.

A week later, Lee and Brady still were not on the
campaign trail, but they were close.

Lee signed the papers Friday to set up a campaign
committee, to be called "Lee 2008," so he could collect
contributions. It all but made him a candidate for
governor for the third time.

"When you're about to jump out of an airplane, you
usually check your parachute first. If you don't have
enough money, you can't run a campaign. I've run a
campaign without much money. It was fun, but I lost,"
Lee said.

The official filing should not be far behind. "It's
likely to be sooner rather than later. It may even be
next week," Lee said.

Brady was released from the hospital Friday after
what was suspected to be heart-related trouble but
turned out to be pneumonia. He said he had tests that
checked his heart out but discovered he was a little
anemic and low on potassium. The doctors also tweaked
the prescription for blood pressure medicine he has
taken since 1987.

"I'm clear to campaign. No restrictions," Brady said.

Brady spent a week in Beebe but did not waste his
time. "Every nurse and certified nursing assistant knows
what I'm running for," he said.

Yes, Brady's hospitalization was covered by
insurance.

# # #

Demonstrations to rouse support for candidates at
Delaware political conventions have gone the way of the
typewriter and transistor radio. No one has them
anymore.

Mike Castle, though, is a throwback kind of guy. He
cannot seem to part with them entirely, not after a
political career that stretches back to his election to
the legislature in 1966, his first stop on the way to
lieutenant governor, governor and congressman.

Castle was at the Republican state convention to pick
up the party endorsement, as he campaigns to extend his
state record in the U.S. House of Representatives to a
ninth term.

He did not bother with a band or a balloon drop or a
snake line of t-shirted volunteers swiveling through the
aisles of the convention hall at Ruddertowne, but his
campaign staff did distribute multi-colored beach balls
for the delegates to bat around the room in celebration
of the moment.

Castle unloosed the beach balls despite what happened
when he used them two years ago for his endorsement in
the same place, and an over-exuberant lob from someone
shattered a chandelier. Castle got a bill for $1,000.